Our tale resumes at Arenal Observatory Lodge. The surrounding property has a mix of virgin rainforest, regenerating rainforest, and farmland, with lots of trails.

A few minutes from our room, down the hill, is a “frog pond”. We headed there after dinner, in the rain, to see if any frogs were visible. There were lots of red-eyed tree frogs, and a few other species, and I found a couple of Northern cat-eyed snakes. Around the other tracks we found woodpeckers with a nest-hole, lots of oropendulas, a profusion of humming birds of various species (very difficult to photograph – they hardly ever seem to stop moving).

From Volcan Arenal we headed North West along wiggly roads on the edge of Lake Arenal, to a nice eco-lodge on Volcan Tenorio.

We arrived in torrential rain. The common area, as is common in Costa Rica, was an open space with a corrugated iron roof (Walls are less of a necessity when the temperature is so warm and the humidity so high).The rain was thundering on the roof so hard at times that we could not hold conversation. It turned out that our host, Pip Kelly was an Australian, who had married a Costa Rican and settled here to run the accommodation. The lodge we had was very nice, designed by an architect friend, with a lovely semicircular shower with full height window onto the rainforest. Certainly the best shower with a view on our trip.

Off the side of the balcony they had feeders where they placed bananas to attract birds. As a result we had excellent chances to see a lot of different species. There was also a sloth nearby. These look just like a dark patch in the foliage. Even when the location was pointed out we all had difficulty seeing the sloth. I guess the locals have many years experience and have got their eye in.  We’ve taken guided walks in several places and each time the guides have proved excellent at seeing things we would have walked past un-knowing.

We explored a walk in Volcan Tenorio National Park, which took us through some nice rainforest, past a waterfall to the confluence of two streams where the water turned blue due to some unusual chemistry. Aluminosilicates in one stream are precipitated by the acidity in the other stream as particles of a size that diffract the blue light.

Blue colour due to mixing of waters at the confluence

Bidding farewell to Tenoriro we headed on to Monte Verde. This is a vast area with huge tracts of virgin forest mixed with areas of forest regerenerating after farming decades ago.  It is famed for the cloud forest areas, high altitude (cool) forests that get most of their moisture from the clouds blowing over. This region straddles the continental divide so cool moist  pacific air masses blow up into the moist warm air from the Caribbean side – instant cloud. It is meant to be relatively cloudy/rainy, especially at this time of year. Instead, mostly it was dry.

View from our accommodation at Monte Verde

We took a walk in the Monte Verde reserve. Being on the slopes of the continental divide, the track had considerable ups and downs. One of the things they do really well in Costa Rica is STEEP. If you face one way from the track, you see the crowns of trees whose roots are tens of metres below. If you about face you typically face a wall of green where the track has been cut into the steep slope. Rivers cut through the substrate like hot knives through butter, so they tend to form ravines with precipitous sides. Some of the forest trees are huge – 50 metres tall, with trunks 3 metres of more in diameter, and a veritable forest of epiphytes growing all over the trunk and branches.

By early afternoon we were wondering where the rain was – this was rainforest, after all. Then, at a lookout on the continental divide, we enjoyed the spectacle of clouds forming and dissipating as the airmasses swept up the slopes on both sides.

Eating lunch in the shelter at Monte Verde, Jill looked up and found a snake coiled up in the rafters. It was a smallish, non-venomous, blond headed snake. We shared the discovery with a couple of nature walk groups who were hanging around, to mixed delight and anxiety.

Kinkaju

Side Stripe Pit Viper

That night we hired a guide for a private wildlife tour. He drove us to local private reserve of about 100 Ha (1 sq km) which was criss-crossed by walking tracks. There were several other wildlife tours there, and the guides were in communication by radio, sharing sightings. Our guide was excellent and we managed to see quite a lot, including a kinkaju.

Kinkajus (also known as honey bears) are carnivores distantly related to racoons and coatis, but spend their lives high in the canopy, eating mainly fruit. The one we saw was almost invisible high in the tree. Our guide knew there were kinkajus in the reserve and made calls mimicking that of kinkajus. He only located the one we saw when his call elicited movement of the animal above.

We saw a heap of other wildlife – owls, bats, insects, frogs, snakes … the guide gave us almost 3 h (we were the last group to leave the reserve) – not bad for US$100 split between the 4 of us.

Arenal from Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve

Next day we visited the Santa Elena cloudforest reserve, a gorgeous area that spans the divide. We headed first to a track that climbed up to the continental divide and then tracked along it. The top of the divide here is about 4 metres wide, and the ground drops off almost cliff like on both sides. Half way along the track on the top there is an observation tower that afforded us a fine view of Volcan Arenal. Amazing views considering this is cloud forest. Even the locals commented that the weather was unusually fine.

Cloud forest in the clouds

We were wondering if we would ever see cloud forest in the cloud, but then, in early afternoon the cloud rolled in. Nice cooling effect. However the pea-soup effect was not so desirable as we negotiated the rather rough, narrow and twisty road back to town.

We had tried to book last night’s guide for another night, but he had another booking. As it turned out this was for the good. Seven spent the evening sorting out his travel plans – given that his flights on Friday took him via Miami, and the airport was closed for the hurricane, he had to find alternative routes to his destination. And it rained. No, it POURED. we would have got drenched.

Next day we packed and headed off. Steven and Judy to San Jose for their onward flights. Jill and I headed north to the Hobbit House, but that is the next installment.

For a gallery of photos, go to https://photos.app.goo.gl/flAMHmllQrPv8cnq2

Jill likes the local bakeries

Here is the next installment:

The view from Hobbit house balcony

Heading north from Monte Verde, we descended to the plains, where the temperature increase was palpable. In Bagaces we stopped at a local panaderia (bakery) for a lunch break. By means of pointing and grunting and a few common words – dulce (sweet), carne (meat), pollo (chicken) etc, we usually manage to find something yummy. This time Jill discovered huge honey biscuit/pastries.

A little further up the road we find our accommodation for the next 3 nights – the quaint Hobbit Cob Cottage. The view from the patio was rather nice.  We settled in and explored the property, an old farm that the new owners have replanted with trees over the last 15 years. Somewhat exhausted by the heat we decided to take it easy and abandoned plans for further travel that day. Instead we explored the property, finding a frog pond that looked promising for a nocturnal visit.

Roseate spoonbill

Next day we headed south to Palo Verde National Park via a local waterfall. Palo Verde protects about 20,000 Ha including the Tempesque valley and its wetlands and the surrounding dry tropical forested hillsides and limestone ridges. We stopped just outside the park where we found a rice farm with a wet field full of egrets, storks, spoonbills and a variety of smaller birds. The park was very interesting. We took a (sweltering) walk along a limestone ridge to a mirador (lookout) over the Tempesque valley and wetlands. Then we headed down the road to a pleasant little walkway into the wetlands, where we enjoyed jacanas dancing for us. Apparently the best way to explore the wetlands is along the river in a boat, so we thought we’d drive to the end of the road where one might catch a boat. But this is wet season. Probably no boats, and we didn’t make it to the “port” as the road was under water. So we did a 20 point turn and headed back to Hobbit cottage.

Next day we explored another local park – the La Pilas section of Rincon de la Veija Volcanic National Park, which boasts fumaroles and boiling mud pots. At the edge of the park here is a huge geothermal power station in the area that generates about 15% of Costa Rica’s power (65% hydro and some wind power… overall about 98-99% renewable energy).

We also found some fascinating “glass butterflies” that have transparent wings. We got back to the car after spending all morning on a 3.5 km loop trail, just as it started raining.

A few km down the road the rain cleared so we headed back into the park at the Santa Maria section where there is a 3 km each way walk to thermal pools. We wandered down the trail through interesting forest, quite different to the forest at Las Pilas. We found a coral snake which headed off the road ahead of us with a great deal of threshing, then lay at the edge of the track with head under cover and body visible. Prudence dictated we take some telephoto shots and then leave it in peace. By the time we reached the thermal spring large drops were falling from the leaden sky. A quick dip, and then we were off, donning our ponchos. The rain became a deluge, and the track, a river. We got back safely to the ranger station where the ranger bade us farewell (in spanish) from under the roof of the ranger station.

The rain eased later in the evening so we checked out the frog pond behind Hobbit Cottage. The sound was deafening – Frog calls at 110 decibels. Gazillions of frogs there, but could we see them? we finally tracked down a few. The rest remained hidden.

Our next leg took us via Santa Rosa National Park, which was the first national park established in Costa Rica (in 1971). It protects an area of dry tropical forest. We ambled along the trails, enjoying the forest, and commenting on how noisy the primates were – these turned out to be homo sapiens from the university, examining petroglyphs circa 800 AD. The dry forest was fascinating – so different to the wet forests of Monte Verde.

After doing the loop walk near the ranger station, we decided to start on the 12 km each way track to the beach (not intending to go all the way). Within a couple of km we managed to find a troupe of howler monkeys, and a couple of deer. With good fortune we got back to the car before the rain drenched us and headed to our accommodation in the far north-west.

We had a great view from our accommodation across Salinas Bay towards Nicaragua. The island in the photo above is a bird reserve and there was a cloud of frigate birds and others circling above it. Further round the bay are huge resort developments based around tiny beaches. It must be hell in peak season when there are thousands trying to share a beach of coarse sand/gravel that is about 100 metres from side to side by about 20 metres at low tide. Overall we were not impressed by Costa Rican beaches.

Our next destination was Tamarindo, a holiday town on the north west coast. Amazing place. This photo shows the street with our accommodation. Potholed gravel/mud, with a couple of loose horses wandering along to the surprise (?) of the local on the motor bike.

Taking ourselves on a morning nature walk we encountered howler monkeys in the trees a couple of hundred metres from our residence. We returned, drenched with sweat and made good use of the pool to cool down. This being the off season, we think we may have been the only residents. We did a beach walk… then the pool… then in the afternoon we took a beach walk and got a mangrove boat tour up the river. This was interesting, and we saw some interesting things, like green kingfishers, but the nature guide was not as good as we have come to expect in Costa Rica (so far they were all fantastically good).

Barra Honda NP-vertical cave entrance

Potoo, Barra Honda NP

After cooling down in the pool we had a quiet night then headed south via Barra Honda National Park. This park is famous for its limestone caverns, most of which have not yet been explored. These are not the typical tourist caves. If you want to enter, you need a guide, and the entrance involves about 50 metres descent on a vertical ladder. We decided to give the cave a miss other than a photo of the enterance, but the forest walk was very pleasant and we found lots of nice fungi, troupes of monkeys,a Potoo (birds related to tawny frogmouths that try to imitate tree branches when asleep) etc.. Luckily we could avoid the steep climb from the ranger’s station by taking the 4WD track. Fun! Even on the mostly level track circuit we took, we were drenched with sweat for the whole walk. At 100% humidity, the sweat doesn’t dry. We then headed off south to Jaco for our night’s accommodation, which is where we will leave the saga for now.

As usual there is a large gallery of photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/69x87bU9W0r1aGiy1

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The tale resumes with us heading south towards Sierpe. A brief stop at Hacienda Baru gave us chance to explore an area that was recovering from farming. With more open areas it was easier to see birds, and we managed to spy a Toucan or two as we wandered through.

Sierpe is a small town at the end of the road on the Sierpe River. We went there because Jill chatted with a lady at Arenal Observatory Lodge who organises tours from there to Corcovado National Park, and offered her villa accommodation for us – so we booked and went.

The villa was quite spacious, but rain caused cancellation of the first evening’s night tour that we had tentatively organised. So next day we headed down to the dock for the boat trip downriver to Corcovado, which is barely accessible at all by road, and not in the wet season.

What I hadn’t quite registered is that Corcovado is a further hour by boat from the mouth of River Sierpe across open ocean. I didn’t have motion sickness pills with me. Fortunately the skipper was very good at avoiding waves so I managed without incident. It helped that the scenery was very good as we travelled down the coast.

At Corcovado we headed off for the first walk, spotting various interesting birds. Soon after, the skies turned dark gray, and then it started to rain. Torrents. We donned our ponchos and trundled on through ever deepening water on the track/rivulet. Our feet were soon sodden. But, despite the inclement weather, we had the good fortune to find a Northern Tamandua, one of the anteaters, ambling through the fronds of a palm in search of ants.

We completed our circuit back to the ranger station for lunch. A local gecko caught our attention, taking advantage of spilled fruit juice, and a coati wandered across the lawn. The afternoon walk (still raining) was interesting in terms of environment, but unsuccessful in terms of animals. Then we returned, taking an even longer time on the open ocean as the skipper detoured out in search of whales and dolphins (none, alas). Once again I managed without turning green, though I was happy to get back to the river. We enjoyed relatively rain free river travel, and took another side trip, this time to meander through a narrow channel into the mangroves that line the river sides. Very interesting.

Next morning we headed out of Sierpe, stopping at Finca 6, and archaeological museum that includes some pre-Columbian relicts, notably large stone spheres. These are a Costa Rican speciality, though no-one knows how they were made, why they were made, how they were transported from the original quarry sites to their final locations etc. The ones we saw were around 1 m in diameter. The largest one found so far is 2.6 m in diameter and weighs 24 tonnes, so not a trivial exercise to make them.

From there we headed even further south along the coastal plain past mile after mile of palm plantations before looping up into the hills on a steep and twisty road, getting spectacular views from the top over those plains and across the Dulce Gulf.

Our destination was San Vito where we had accommodation for two nights to give us time to explore the Wilson Botanic Gardens that the guide books felt was well worth a visit.

Our accommodation was a spacious round house with a lovely view over the rainforest. It was raining by the time we arrived so we had a relaxed afternoon enjoying the local views. On the property was a spetacular bamboo grove. George, the owner, told us it was 45 years old, and I measured it at over 30 metres tall. Even the baby bamboo shoots were taller than Jill.

Wilson Botanic gardens turned out to be a bit of a let-down. It sprawls over a large area, with formal gardens and some undeveloped rainforest, and a large lookout tower, which gave good views over the valley as well as views into the nearby tree canopy. We enjoyed our morning there, but couldn’t help thinking that much more could have been done to improve the educational value of the gardens, if only a few informational signs about the groups of plants in the various areas of the gardens.

We got to the car as the rains started (a common theme) and headed north. Our plans – a couple of nights at the quetzal forest before our final 2 nights near San Jose airport.

Heading north we drove through mostly agricultural land on route 2 to San Isidro where the road started to climb, and climb, and climb – eventually reaching over 3300 m, about which point we took a left turn and plunged down 6 km of narrow tttwwwiiiiissstyyy road, dropping about 1000 m (that makes it an average 1 in 6 slope) to our accommodation.

We were up at 5 for a 5:30 am quetzal tour. Our guide took us a few hundred metres down the road to a side track on a steep slope (not many slopes that weren’s steep) where there was a native avacado tree that was favoured by quetzals. There were lots of birds in the tree, but even the guide did not see many of them until they flew off. Incredible how such a colourful bird can be so hard to see. Hiding behind leaves also makes them hard to photograph, but we managed a couple of snaps. The birds were at that spot because the native avocado was fruiting and this is the favourite food of quetzals. They swallow the fruit whole (about 3 cm in diameter!) and it takes some time to get them down.

At 7:30 we returned for breakfast, then headed down to the end of the road where there was a track to a waterfall. It was a pleasant walk with some nice views of the small river, but the best of the two waterfalls was closed with signs declaring danger, track in poor condition (in Spanish). Since lots of people were ignoring these signs, we did too. The next km was, indeed, in poor condition, with stairways broken etc, but the final section which would have given us the waterfall views, was down a steep section with metal stairways that had been wrecked by falling trees. So we satisfied ourselves with a partial view and headed back. We reached the car just as the rain came (again) and had a quiet afternoon with a short bird-watching stint when the rain eased.

In the morning we walked down to the quetzal viewing place about 6:15. Surprisingly there were quite a few people there (Jill counted about 40) so we squeezed ourselves in and took photos of the visible quetzals for 40 minutes before heading back for breakfast.

After packing we headed back up to Route 2 and back to the high point at 3300 m and spent a couple of hours in this alpine environment. We found green spiny lizards and lots of interesting fungus among the vegetation. A very different environment to the ones we had seen previously in Costa Rica. We got back to the car just as the rain started, and drove north, with the phone GPS OSMAnd providing directions. All was going well along route 2 that we assumed would take us to San Jose, but OSMAnd took us off on a series of smaller roads, twisting along ridges and through small villages. A much more interesting route. We were surprised, however, when we had instructions to turn left on 206 – this was a gravel road. A wide gravel road, but certainly not sealed. We followed instructions. The road twisted and turned through steep descents. In places we were very glad we had a 4 wheel drive as there were frequent places where water damage (it rains in costa rica) had dug steep, deep rivulets across the road.

Eventually we made it down to the outskirts of San Jose, when the heavens opened. We spent the next hour and a half crawling through dense traffic in torrential rain. We’d switched to Google maps, hoping it may be more savvy on the traffic and get us round the blockages. “there is congestion ahead” it declared “this is normal !”.

Next morning we headed to town on the local train. Quite an experience (see https://youtu.be/zi19NiXsArk). Not quite mass transit, the train had 2 carriages. It ran about once per hour (up to midday when services stopped). Tickets were purchased on board (2 staff per carriage to assist this). The 20 km trip took about 1 hour (the same as google’s estimate for driving, but without the stress of driving in San Jose traffic, and no hassles parking.)

We visited various museums whilst the clouds built up over the mountains, and just after we left for the 2 km trek to the bus station for the return, the skies opened. Torrential rain that went on and on. After about 30 mins sheltering we decided to head off regardless (the day before the rain continued virtually none stop till after dark). Jill’s small travel umbrella, and my with a poncho gave us some protection from above. However the streets were ankle deep so we both ended up with sodden footwear and pant bottoms. The locals didn’t seem to fare any better. As we walked we were approached regularly by umbrella vendors that seemed to spring up like mushrooms as soon as the rain came.

Next morning we were up early for the shuttle to the airport (~5 min) and the uneventful flights home. We had fun during our travels, but it was good to get home too. It’s nice to have drinkable tap water (though, touch wood, we suffered no illnesses during out travels).

Some final thoughts. Costa Rica is a lovely place to visit. We wonder where all the mosquitos etc are – we saw hardly any. What do the insectivorous birds eat? Costa Rican’s have a rather lax attitude to safety. Main electrical delivery wires were often in easy reach from the ground – sometimes even touching the ground. Shower heads with electrical heaters built in were common. The electrical supply usually wires twisted together with a bit of insulation tape over the joint – ideal practise in a wet environment! On the roads, speed limits were seldom heeded – typically people drove at 20+ kph above the nominal limit. If they want to stop to chat, they just stop the car in the carriageway so everyone has to overtake or wait. Overtaking with double centrelines and blind corners was common. Statistics for traffic accidents per 100,000 vehicles per year: 38 in CR vs 7 in Australia. We took care, and had an accident free trip.

Costa Rica is definitely a great place to visit if you are interested in biology and scenery. It is easy to get around, relatively cheap, the people are friendly and helpful, we never felt any threat on our personal safety (electrical wiring and traffic notwithstanding), and although we have very little Spanish, we got by without major issues.

I’ve uploaded a gallery of photos to https://photos.app.goo.gl/9vAWGqzyy915V7IQ2 (link updated 2017-11-01) and because the photos don’t do justice to their dynamic nature, there is a brief video of a leaf-cutter ant trail at https://youtu.be/kahx8NUZXnk

🙂